Refactoring commands are available in the text editor and the tool windows of Visual Assist. Commands that generate code also appear in refactoring menus for convenience, as do commands to find references to symbols.
Access in the Text Editor
Refactoring commands are available in the text editor. Because the commands are typically used often, you may invoke them in numerous ways:
- Quick Refactoring Menu (Shift+Alt+Q)
- Floating button (enabled in the options dialog for Visual Assist)
- Context menu (Right-Click or Shift+F10)
- VAssistX entry in the menubar (Alt+X, R)
The Quick Refactoring Menu (Shift+Alt+Q) provides the fastest and most succinct access. Content of the menu varies with context, and depends on placement of the text caret: in white space, on a symbol, and with or without a selection. When the caret is in white space, only refactoring commands related to files are available.
When the caret is on a symbol, refactoring commands related to the symbol are available. Visual Assist includes only permissible commands in the Quick Refactoring Menu, and menu items are sorted most-applicable first. For example, when opening the Quick Refactoring Menu on an inline method, the top menu item is Move Implementation to Source File.
For mouse users, the same menu can be opened with the floating button.
If you use prefer keyboard access, disable the floating button when hovering.
Optionally, enable the floating button when typing only when suggested refactoring is available. The button will serve as a gentle reminder.
You can always reach the entire set of refactoring commands via the context menu in the text editor.
Finally, the entire set is also available via the menubar (Alt+X, R)
Access in the Tool Windows of Visual Assist
A subset of refactoring commands—the applicable ones—are available also in the tool windows of Visual Assist.
The following is an example of refactoring commands available via the context menu in the Hovering Class Browser (HCB) of the VA View.
Refactoring commands are also available via the context menu in the VA Outline.